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21 November 2018

By lmensah

Department of Finance Reviews 2019 National Budget at Roundtable Discussion

The Department of Finance, School of Business, has held a roundtable dscussion for lecturers and students to share their views on the 2019 Budget Statement which was recently presented to Parliament by the Minister for Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta.

The roundtable discussion which is an initiative of the Department of Finance is held annually to create a platform to discuss national budgets devoid of political bias. The 2018 edition of the progrmme featured three lecturers of the University of Cape Coast as members of the panel. They were Dr Samuel Dadzie of the School of Agriculture, Dr William G. Cantah of the School of Economics and Mr Seyram Kawor of the Department of Finance.

Sharing his views at the event, Mr Seyram Kawor admitted that there was hardship in the country. "Fuel prices are going up and reduction of taxes has not reflected in production" he intimated. He admitted that the 2019 budget presented to Parliament revealed that government was moving from taxations that undermined production.

Mr. Kawor commended government for the introduction of the inter-operability policy but noted that issues about security was a great challenge. He lamented that the budget failed to place priority on production. “The economy can be improved if we produce and export”, he noted.

Speaking about the "One District One Factory Initiative," he noted that government failed to give detailed schedule towards the implementation of the project but only revealed that 55 companies have been funded and more would be added”.

Dr. William G. Cantah was of the view that the budget reflected hope for the future. "l see hope for the future based on doing things right", he stated. He commended government for widening the tax net. However, he criticised government for introducing the NABCO initiative because it was a cost incurring initiative adding that, NABCO is a complete waste of money " he stated. According to him, the money being invested in the programme should rather be allocated to private individuals to invest in meaningful and profitable ventures so that they could employ beneficiaries of NABCO on behalf of government.

Dr. Cantah advised government to eradicate the inefficiencies in the public sector. He advised government to reduce domestic borrowing to ensure the availability of funds for the private sector. He disagreed with government on the issue of "Free Senior High School" because, the policy should not be free for all since the rich could pay for their wards' school fees. He suggested that government should monitor the fee people pay for their wards at the basic level, especially those in private schools and allow them to pay for that of Senior High School as well.

Dr. Samuel Dadzie used the opportunity to commend government for the "Planting for Food and Job" initiative. He was happy that government had expanded the programme the programme to include "Rearing Livestock for Food and Job".

The Head of the Department of Finance, Prof. John Gatsi, in his closing remark, praised the the former government for going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for intervention. He noted that the decision has brought Ghana's economy back on track. "The IMF was good to the economy because it restored policy credibility, help us to manage our economy better. We have reduced inflation, there is general relative stability", he explained.

Prof. Gatsi revealed that past records of the country showed that anytime the country exited from the IMF programme "we sleep and go back to the old ways of doing things and we go back to the IMF for policy credibility". He noted that the only assurance was to maintain prudent economic management so that the country would not be micro managed by the IMF in decision making. Prof. Gatsi averred that 2019 was a test year for government to ensure that the country did not return to the era of restrictions from the IMF. "Anytime we engage in rebasing, it creates the temptation to borrow. That temptation is clearly with us now", he stated. He noted that the budget has provided signal of committment to protect capital expenditure which he said was low in 2016. "There should be much more commitment to ensure that the infrastructure aspect is implemented to develop the economy", he advised.

Present at the event were lecturers and students of the School of Business.